224: 



CONGRESS. (SPECIAL SESSION THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE.) 



Pennsylvania. 



Alexander McDowell, E. 

 William Lilley, E. 

 Henry H. Bingham, E. 

 Charles O'Neill, E. 

 William McAleer, D. 

 John E. Eeyburn, E. 

 Alfred C. Banner, E. 

 John B. Eobinson, E. 

 Irving P. Wanger, E. 

 Howard Mutchler, D. 

 (.'onstantine J Erdman, D. 

 Mariott Brosius, E. 

 Joseph A. Scranton, E. 

 William H. Hines, D. 

 James B. Eeilly, D. 



Ephraim M. Woomer, E. 

 Myron B. Wright, E. 

 Albert 0. Hopkins, E. 

 Simon P. Wolverton, D. 

 Thaddeus M. Mahon, E. 

 Frank E. Beltzhoover, D. 

 Josiah D. Hicks, E. 

 Daniel B. Reiner, E. 

 John Dalzell, E. 

 William A. Stone, E. 

 William A. Sipe. D. 

 Thomas W. Phillips, E. 

 Joseph 0. Sibley, D. 

 Charles W. Stone, E. 

 George F. Kribbs, D. 



Oscar Lapham, D. 



Rhode Island. 



Charles H. Page, D. 



South Carolina. 



William H. Brawley, D. Thomas J. Strait, D 



William J. Taibert, D. John L. McLaurin, I>. 



Asbury C. Latimer, D. George W. Murray, E. 

 George W. Shell, D. 



South, Dakota. 

 John A. Pickler, E. William V. Lucas. E. 



Tennessee. 



Alfred A. Taylor, E. 

 John C. Houk. E. 

 Henry C. Snodgrass, D. 

 Benton McMillin, D. 

 James D. Eichardson, D. 



J. C. Hutcheson, D. 



8. B. Cooper, D. 



C. Buckley Kilgore, D. 



David B. Culberson, D. 



Joseph W. Bailey, D. 



Jo Abbott, D. 



George C. Pendleton, D. 



Joseph E. Washington, D. 

 Nicholas N. Cox, D. 

 Benjamin A. Enloe, D. 

 J. C. McDearmon, D. 

 Josiah Patterson, D. 



Texas. 



C. K. Bell, D. 

 Joseph D. Sayers, D. 

 "Walter Gresham, D. 

 William H. Grain, D. 

 Thomas M. Paschall, D. 

 J. V. Cockrell, D. 



H. Henry Powers, E. 



William A. Jones, D. 

 D. Gardiner Tyler. D. 

 George D. Wise, D. 

 James F. Epes, D. 

 Claude A. Swanson, D. 



Vermont. 



William W. Grout, E. 



Virginia. 



Paul C. Edmunds. D. 

 Charles T. O'Ferrall, D. 

 Elisha E. Meredith, D. 

 James W. Marshall, D. 

 Henry St. George Tucker, D. 



John L. Wilson, E. 



Washington. 



William H. Doolittle, B. 



West Virginia. 



John O. Pendleton, D. John D. Alderson, D. 



William L. Wilson, D. James Capehart, D. 



Wisconsin. 



H. A. Cooper, E. 

 Charles Barwig, D. 

 Joseph W. Babcock, E. 

 Peter J. Somers, D. 

 George II. Brickner, D. 



Owen A. Wells. D. 

 George B. Shaw, E. 

 Lyman E. Barnes, D. 

 Thomas Lynch, D. 

 Nils P. Haugen, E. 



Wyoming. 

 Henry A. Coffeen, D. 



DELEGATES FROM TERRITORIES. 



Arizona Marcus A. Smith. D. 

 New Mexico Antonio Joseph, D. 

 Oklahoma Dennis T. Flynn, E. 

 Utah Joseph L. Eawlins, D. 



Charles F. Crisp, of Georgia, was chosen 

 Speaker of the House; James Kerr, clerk; H. 

 W. Snow, sergeant-alarms; A. B. Hurt, door- 

 keeper ; Lycurgus Dalton, postmaster : and Sam- 

 uel W. Haddaway, chaplain. 



On Tuesday, Aug. 8, the President sent to the 

 Congress the following message : 



To the Congress of the United States : 



The existence of an alarming and extraordinary 

 business situation, involving the welfare and pros- 

 perity of all our people, has constrained me to call to- 

 gether in extra session the people's representatives in 

 Congress, to the end that through a wise and patri- 

 otic exercise of the legislative duty with which they 

 are solely charged, present evils may be mitigated 

 and dangers threatening the future may be averted. 



Our unfortunate financial plight is not the result of 

 untoward events nor of conditions related to our 

 national resources ; nor is it traceable to any afflictions 

 which frequently check national growth and pros- 

 perity, with plenteous crops, with abundant prom- 

 ise of remunerative production and manufacture, with 

 unusual invitation to safe investment, and with satis- 

 factory assurance to business enterprise, suddenly 

 financial fear and distrust have sprung up on every 

 side. Numerous moneyed institutions have suspend- 

 ed because abundant assets were not immediately 

 available to meet the demands of the frightened de- 

 positors. Surviving corporations and individuals are 

 content to keep in hand the money they_ are usually 

 anxious to loan } and those engaged in legitimate busi- 

 ness are surprised to find that the securities they 

 offer for loans, though heretofore satisfactory, are no 

 longer accepted. 



V alues supposed to be fixed are fast becoming con- 

 jectural, and loss and failure have involved every 

 branch of business. 



I believe these things are principally chargeable 

 to congressional legislation touching tne purchase 

 and coinage of silver by the General Government. 



This legislation is embodied in a statute passed on 

 the 14th day of July, 1890, which was the culmina- 

 tion of much agitation on the subject involved, and 

 which may be considered a truce, after a long strug- 

 gle between the advocates of free silver coinage and 

 tnose intending to be more conservative. 



Undoubtedly the monthly purchases by the Gov- 

 ernment of 4,500,000 ounces of silver enforced under 

 that statute were regarded by those interested in sil- 

 ver production as a certain guarantee of its increase in 

 price. 



The result, however, has been entirely different, 

 for immediately following a spasmodic and slight 

 rise, the price of silver began to fall after the passage 

 of the act, and has since reached the lowest point 

 ever known. This disappointing result has led to re- 

 newed and persistent eftort in the direction of free 

 silver coinage. 



Meanwhile, not only are the evil effects of the 

 operation of the present law constantly accumulating, 

 but the result to which its execution must inevitably 

 lead is becoming palpable to all who give the least 

 heed to financial subjects. 



This law provides that in payment of the 4,500,- 

 000 ounces of silver bullion which the Secretary of 

 the Treasury is commanded to purchase monthly, 

 there shall be issued Treasury notes redeemable on 

 demand in gold or silver coin, at the discretion of 

 the Secretary of the Treasury, and that said notes may 

 be reissued. It is, however, declared in the act to bo 

 "the established policy of the United States to main- 

 tain the two metals on a parity with each other upon 

 the present legal ratio or upon such ratio as may he 

 provided by law." This declaration so controls the 

 action of the Secretary of the Treasury as to prevent 

 his exercising the discretion nominally vested in him, 

 if by such action the parity between gold and silver 

 may be disturbed. Manifestly, a refusal by the Sec- 

 retary to pay these Treasury notes in gold, if demand- 

 ed, would necessarily result in their discredit and 

 depreciation as obligations payable only in silver, and 

 would destroy the parity between the two metals by 

 establishing a discrimination in favor of gold. 



Up to the 15th day of July, 1893, these notes had 

 been issued in payment of silver bullion purchased to 

 the amount of more than $147,000,000. While all but 

 a very small quantity of this bullion remains un- 

 coined and without usefulness in the Treasury, many 



